Isfar Munir '18

Why did you choose Haverford? Haverford felt like a very natural fit for me when I first visited the school. The small size and intimate nature of the classes were very appealing to me. The academic departments, especially the one I was most interested in, Physics, were all top-class. Of course, cricket certainly had an appeal of its own and only further drew me to the school.

What is your favorite team experience? In the fall of last year we played a very interesting game against the Amwell Valley Cricket Club in New Jersey. At that point, we had played a few away games, namely against the close Merion Cricket Club and Philadelphia Cricket Club. Both had their grounds on rather stately looking country clubs in suburban areas. We expected something similar when we boarded the bus for Amwell Valley. Instead the bus looped around into a middle-of-no-where forest in New Jersey, the look completed by an old barn we passed on the way to the field. In a word, it was a very rustic looking place. And here we played a cricket game! Perhaps more memorably, we had a fantastic barbeque with the other team after the game! It was certainly an experience all on its own due to the location of the game, and the barbeque only served to reinforce the inherently social nature of our sport.

Why did you choose to play a sport in college? It was a very natural decision for me when it was time to make it. I had grown up in a cricket-loving household and had watched the game for many, many years. I loved cricket, and did my best to play with friends wherever I was. Haverford of course is the only college in America where I could formally play cricket, and this was an opportunity to good to refuse! It's a culmination of a great deal of joy I find in the sport, and the uniqueness of the opportunity to play cricket in college.

What advice would you give a high school student considering Haverford? Visit the campus and really get an understanding for what Haverford is all about. Haverford has its idiosyncrasies like all schools, and the Honor Code makes it a very unique place among its peers. It isn't a place for everyone, especially with its small size, so it's important to truly understand what attending Haverford means for an individual's next four years. That being said, anyone considering Haverford should also consider Haverford's traditional academic strength and of course all that makes Haverford so unique, including cricket!

What are your thoughts on the Honor Code? The Honor Code is a beautiful thing; it makes Haverford the school that it is in many ways. It engenders the atmosphere of trust that so pervades the campus, and only helps in creating the relaxed feeling that I always feel on campus. The Honor Code allows the faculty to invest so much trust in the students, an investment that pays its dividends in the form of an incredible and unique academic atmosphere in the classroom. Cricket and the Honor Code also seem to go together in its own way; cricket, with its spirit of the game, has a long history of tremendous levels of sportsmanship, with umpires often deferring to the players honest judgement during tough calls or batsmen even giving themselves out if they feel the umpire missed something! It's a game built upon its own Honor Code, and it only makes sense that Haverford would be the only school in America to field a cricket team.